Cover-Up at the Cathedral

Posted on Oct 30, 2011

zoer (CC-BY)

Protesters are encamped at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Critics of the financial industry and some clergy members are upset over suppression by St. Paul’s Cathedral of a report that would appear to reveal a shared denial of responsibility for the financial crisis within the London banking community.

It is suspected that publication was delayed in order to prevent powerful interests from getting the impression that the cathedral sided with protesters. A spokesman suggested the report was withheld because other events in the news would prevent it from getting the attention and debate it deserved.

The church is currently attempting to remove members of Occupy London who have pitched 200 tents on its land.

St. Paul’s Institute produced the report. A subsidiary of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the group was set up to provide “an informed Christian response to the most urgent ethical and spiritual issues of our times.” —Alexander Reed Kelly

The Independent:

The Independent on Sunday understands that the decision has upset a number of clergy, who hoped that the report would prove that the church was not detached from a financial crisis that had its heart yards from the cathedral itself. The decision will fuel the impression that the wider established church is attempting to stifle debate about the tent protest, as leading members of the Church of England, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, have failed to comment publicly about Occupy London.

… The spokesman refused to comment what the report’s findings were, but it is understood it raised profound concerns about the banking sector’s willingness to accept responsibility for the financial crisis.

Such a critical analysis, coming from the institute which is described as part of St Paul’s Cathedral’s “wider mission”, would be seen as highly inflammatory at a time when the church is going to the High Court to attempt to remove 200 tents from its land.

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